Trial underway for former Hopedale RCMP officer facing child luring charges
An RCMP officer accused of two counts of luring a child under the age of 16 using a computer heard from the first of his accusers in Happy Valley Goose Bay provincial court Monday.
Ian Kaulback was stationed in Hopedale when he was first charged with child luring. A second charge was added about a year later.
The charges against Kaulback were initially stayed by a provincial court judge who ruled, based on the standard set by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Jordan case, that the trial had taken too long to go ahead. That decision was reversed by the court of appeal earlier this year.
The girl, who was around 15 years old at the time of the alleged offence, said she knew Kaulback from when he was stationed in her community on the island of Newfoundland.
She said Kaulback had begun messaging her on Facebook asking if he could send her money and spent about a month messaging with him.
She told the court about a couple of Skype conversations she also had with Kaulback. She said those conversations turned sexual and that he had asked her to remove her top.
She said although though the picture quality wasn't great, she recognized the person she was speaking with as Ian Kaulback.
"I knew 100 per cent it was him," the girl said at one point during the questioning.
Defence challenge
Defence lawyer Jason Edwards challenged the girl's recollection of Kaulback, reminding her of a statement she gave to police in which she'd said her description was based mainly on her recollection of him as opposed to what she saw in the video chat.
He questioned how well she could identify Kaulback given the quality of the video and the fact that she was much younger when he lived in her community.
The court also heard from several police officers who were involved with a search warrant that was executed on Kaulback's home in Hopedale in early 2013 where several computers and external hard drives were seized.
The Crown will continue its case against Kaulback Tuesday.
